Cannibal Conquerors and Ancestors: The Aesthetics of Struggle in Indigenous Amazonian Storytelling from Ecuador

Abstract:In this article, the literary publication of the Amazonian author Carlos Alvarado Narváez is analyzed to explore the deeper underlying social aesthetics of storytelling that define his works. The argument is that the literary aesthetics of Alvarado's work draw on the ancestors' emphasis on the body as the central site of struggle. Specifically, the article shows that Indigenous knowledge and ritual are forms of somatic strength against “cannibal” conquerors who seek to disarticulate and consume Indigenous bodies as a means toward the accumulation of wealth. The article concludes that storytelling and its underlying social-symbolic aesthetics become powerful social action during political struggles, as demonstrated by the recent events of the Indigenous protests in Ecuador.